7:34 to go in the second, and Colby Cohen clangs one solidly off the post. BU starting to regain control now.
Reversal of Fortune
It’s been a much better period so far for the Catamounts, who are outshooting BU 7-2 so far and drawn some penalties by going hard to the net.
And just like that, we’re tied. Justin Milo gets his 12th of the season at 9:04, off a power play scramble.
And while I an typing this, the Cats strike again! Josh Burrows at 9:49 on a wrist shot that finds the inside of the far post.
3-2 Vermont. Wow.
And We Have a Game
Vermont cuts the lead in half at 3:50 of the second period. Wahsontiio (that’s pronounced WAHS-ah-DEE-oh) Stacey makes a nice move, uses BU’s Colby Cohen as a screen, and puts a wrist shot past Kieran Millan to make it 2-1 Terriers.
All Terriors So Far
The first period is in the books with the Terriors killing off most of a Vermont power play (they’ll have seven seconds to work with to open the second period). BU is leading in shots 14-7 and goals, 2-0.
Notebook: Boston University-Vermont
Boston’s National Team
Crosstown rival Northeastern’s head coach, Greg Cronin, recently called BU “the best professional team playing college hockey.”
Professional? Try national.
The Terriers boast seven players who were recruited out of the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich., including standouts Colin Wilson, Jason Lawrence and Brian Strait. Strait captained the 2008 World Junior Championship team, and also won bronze in the 2007 tourney.
Drinks are on Kieran
After a rough outing, how many of those goals would Boston University netminder Kieran Millan want back?
Vinny Saponari — here scoring BU’s third goal — is among the BU contingent inherited from the U.S. Under-18 team (photo: Jim Rosvold).
“He’d probably want two of them, and maybe three,” said BU head coach Jack Parker, who had to speak for his tremendously relieved goalie since the frosh was already on the bus after the late-ending contest. “One went off his shoulder and in … but he made a couple of big saves too,” the coach allowed.
The third goal was widely considered the softest of Millan’s short collegiate career, as Vermont’s Josh Burrows wristed a wobbling whiffler from 25 feet out that dipped under the ‘keeper’s left glove.
The 19-year-old goaltender isn’t old enough to buy a round for his supportive forwards just yet, but there’s no doubt he’ll be accountable for a few IOUs down the road.
PIMs PROblematic
The Terriers haven’t been afraid to mix it up all year long, taking the 12th-most penalty minutes per game in the nation. The penalty-kill was strong enough — 13th nationally — to make up for the infractions, and the PK kept opponents on their toes with 10 shorthanded goals as well.
But Thursday’s penalties nearly did the Dogs in, as UVM scored twice in seven man-up opportunities, including the Catamount’s go-ahead goal midway through the third to make the score 4-3. Vermont’s power play hadn’t been setting the world on fire, either, failing in its eight previous advantages in the NCAAs.
Bounce Bounce Bounce
In a game as wild and high-scoring as this, it’s easy to forget exactly how many times fortune came into play.
For starters, Terriers Nick Bonino and Colby Cohen each rang the elbow of Rob Madore’s goal, where the post meets the crossbar.
On BU’s second goal, the Catamounts just missed an opportunity to bury a looping puck that flipped over Millan. Sophomore defenseman Colby Cohen knocked the rubber out of mid-air to save the Dogs, and on the transition up-ice the Terriers scored a goal on a very similar play.
Vermont sophomore Justin Milo broke his stick attempting what could have been an easy one-timer into an open net early in the second period. The puck skittered wide, but Milo bounced back from his bad break with a gritty goal minutes later.
Strong Weak on the Draw
Vermont senior captain Dean Strong had been winning faceoffs at a 62 percent rate over his last 23 games, and had won at least half his draws in each of those games.
Yet the center was only eight for 21 Thursday night, and BU’s game-winning goal was a direct result of a clean Colin Wilson win against Strong.
Wilson drew the puck straight back, Chris Higgins blasted a long shot off Madore’s post, and Wilson drove the net to bury the rebound … a cruel twist of fate that ultimately sank the Catamounts.
“We talked about keeping him from doing what he likes to do so well,” said Parker of the terrific triggerman. “He likes to win it back towards his goalie, and we brought somebody up, especially when we were a man up so that they couldn’t play what we call ‘Cornell,’ which is a certain type of play. That helped us out, because he did win it back to that area but we jumped on it.
“Sometimes he put it where he wanted to, but they didn’t get the puck.”
Odds & Ends
The Terriers advance to their 10th title game with the victory, but despite their reputation as a traditional hockey power, BU is only 4-5 all-time in the NCAA championship game.
Not that history — recent or otherwise — has any bearing on Saturday’s national finale, but Boston University has won every title it has contended for this season: the Ice Breaker, Denver Cup, Beanpot, Hockey East regular- and postseason, and Northeast Regional tournament titles all landed on the Terriers’ shelf.
The Terriers are now on a 16-0-2 run away from home, and goalie Millan is 15-0-1 outside Agganis Arena on the season.
Vermont became the sixth Hockey East team to have its 2008-09 season terminated by the Terriers. BU beat Providence to close out the regular season (which was PC’s last game of the year), then dispatched of Maine in the first round, Boston College in the Hockey East semifinals, and UMass-Lowell in the league championship. The Terriers then edged New Hampshire in the Northeast Regional finale, and now stencil a Catamount on the side of their cockpit. Of the eight Hockey East squads that qualified for any form of postseason play, only Northeastern (lost to Cornell in the Midwest Regional) and Massachusetts (lost to NU in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs) avoided the lethal Terriers.
A Near Miss…
..and then a goal at the other end. The Catamounts put one throu the crease and off the post and then BU takes it up the ice on an odd-man rush and Jason Lawrence gets his 25th of the season off a feed from Colin Wilson to make it 2-0.
There’s now 3:09 to go in the first.
BU Out Front
Seconds after a fantastic save by Vermont goaltender Rob Madore, Colin Wilson redirects a shot from the point by Kevin Shattenkirk and it’s 1-0 Terriors at 11:19 of the first period.
“A Nice Run”
It’s finally over for Bemidji, which captured the imagination of the college hockey world. The Beavers might have been an unknown commodity to the casual fan, but people that follow the sport know of the long tradition of excellence that began under R.H. “Bob” Peters and continued into the Division I era under Tom Serratore, who played for Peters in the mid-80’s.
“We had a nice run,” said Serratore. “Thank you everybody in here. A lot of kind words the last couple of weeks. And Bemidji State University really appreciates it.”
“It’s a feel good story for a lot of people out there,” said senior Cosy Bostock. ” It’s something special to be a part of. You want to thank everyone out there.Unfortunately, tonight we came up on the wrong end, but it’s been a good run. The time of a lifetime. Something I’ll never forget. I’m real proud of our guys and I’m real proud to be a Bemidji State University hockey player.”
Bemidji has now played in national semifinals at the Division III (and won a title), Division II (and won five titles) and now Division I. No matter what the future holds, Bemidji will always have Grand Rapids and Washington.
“It’s memories that last a lifetime,” said Serratore. “And playing in the Frozen Four is unchartered waters. Not many hockey players get an opportunity to play in something like this. That’s what they have to take from it. Obviously when you lose it stings, but you have to get over it. But after you reflect back and you look at it and, you know what, you’re proud that you were able to participate in an event like this.”
Ready for Round 2
The press conferences for the first game are barely over, and it’s already time for Game 2, another red vs. green matchup. Both the BU and Vermont fan sections are quite vocal with plenty to cheer about in an opening five minutes full of hard hits and good scoring chances.
Fearless Freshman
There is always a lot of noise about “experience” every postseason.
No matter the sport, fans, coaches and players alike can’t get enough of it. Who’s got it, who needs it, where it came from. What it means, what it’s worth, what it fosters on the ice.
Cody Reichard proves that pundits can posit what they will about the power of lessons learned, but sometimes you don’t have to have been there to get there.
Cody Reichard stopped 24 of 25 shots as Miami reached the national title game (photo: Melissa Wade).
The RedHawks’ freshman goaltender entered the Frozen Four with by far the least college hockey experience of any of the four netminders, playing over 700 minutes fewer than any of the other starters.
With 1,007:07 played in his NCAA career, Reichard played less than half as much time as semifinal opponent Matt Dalton of Bemidji. Even battery-, class-, and roommate Connor Knapp saw more time (1,349:53).
But coach Enrico Blasi saw something he liked in the 5’11” Ohio native, and Reichard has been Rico’s man down the stretch.
“I think the first game against Denver really gave him a lot of confidence, and he’s the type of kid that works hard all the time,” praised Blasi, referencing Miami’s 4-2 first-round win over the Pioneers.
“The team played well, and coach decided to stick with me, and it’s been good ever since,” shrugged Reichard of his recent run.
The goaltender didn’t see much action, but he made the most of his minutes in earning the nation’s 17th-highest save percentage (.921) and 15th-ranked goals-against average (2.16) in his 18 games entering Thursday. He also put together an ongoing streak of 17 .900-plus save-percentage games.
That said, Blasi wasn’t surprised to see the youngster succeeding on the national stage.
“We’ve seen it before: Denver won it with (Peter) Mannino, (John) Muse last year took BC, so it’s not unusual. I credit Cody for his hard work throughout the season.”
Then again, Reichard is hardly a novice. He’s seen pads before, he’s seen a sheet of ice. He’s even played playoff hockey.
“I’m an older guy,” Reichard said. “I mean, I’m a 22-year-old freshman, so I played a lot of juniors and I’ve seen a lot of stuff. Last year I played 51 games in Fairbanks, so I’ve been through a lot and it doesn’t bother me.”
“I felt comfortable out there. I’ve played in big rinks like that before with a lot of people, so I just tried not to think about it.”
Reichard even took his Fairbanks Icedogs of the NAHL to the championship.
Novelty keeper? Maybe Reichard’s case isn’t as novel as we thought.
ENG
With the Miami supporters on their feet and the Bemidji net empty, Tommy Wingels poke-checks the puck away from a Bemidj defender at the blue line and is off to the races, streaking up the left side and wristing the puck into the open hoop to seal the deal for the RedHawks.
And that’s your ballgame. 4-1 Miami.
With Ten Minutes to Go
…The Green Machine is impressing with their version of “Livin’ On a Prayer”. Appropriate for the Beavers at this point.
In This Tournament…
…No lead is safe. With 14 minutes to go, it’s still 3-1 Miami.
Plenty of time.
Random Thoughts After Two Periods
– The PA announcer is doing the game like it’s a monster truck rally. We can buy the whole seat, but we’ll only need the edge.
– That is one big freaking scoreboard.
– The Gorge Mason “Green Machine” band is more mini than mean. It’s awesome that they came out to support Bemidji, but they only have about 20 musicians. I liked their version of “Back in Black” tough.
– Favorite sign so far: a Gopher fan with a “Bemidji – WCHA” banner.
Two Down, One (?) to Go
Miami leads 3-1 after two periods. Bemidji definitely has the skill and moxie to come back.
Feel free to insert a generic Cinderella reference here.
Fast and Furious
We’ve now had three goals in a 2:21 span as Miami regains its two goal lead. Carter Camper’s shot from the point is stopped by Dalton, but the rebound is swatted at by Bill Loupee. The puck goes off the shaft of Loupee’s stick, and banks off of Dalton’s pads.
3-1 RedHawks.
And Just Like That…
Bemidji comes back with a power play goal of its own just 50seconds later. Matt Francis finds Matt Reed at the post, and he skates around Cody Reicard and finds the back of the net.
2-0 RedHawks
Miami plays a 2-on-1 to perfection with Tommy Wingels breaking down the left side and putting a beautiful cross-crease pass to Alden Hirschfield, who redirects the puck past dalton.
Time of the goal: 8:35.
First Blood, Part I
Miami gets the first goal of the tournament at 3:56 of the second period. On the power play, Tommy Wingel’s shot from the top of the face off circle beats Matt Dalton short side, over his stick shoulder. Gary Steffes set a nice screen in front.
One in the Books
After a scoreless first period, shots are 12 for each side, but Bemidji goaltender Matt Dalton has had to make some very good saves to keep Miami off the board.
Back with second period action in 15 minutes.
